LESSON PLAN-Bear Patterns

JMU Elementary Education Program

Emma Wesley
Laura Close
12/02/2020 9:25am-9:50am

A. Math – Green and Blue

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
Students had started learning about patterns the week before Thanksgiving break. Students learned
about a core of the pattern which is the beginning and they learned that the core repeats itself. The
lower groups ( red and yellow) focused mainly on building patterns and naming AB patterns. The
higher groups (green and blue) focused on building patterns and naming AB, ABB and ABC patterns.
Both groups were successfully able to build and name AB patterns. To continue with our pattern unit,
the week of December 1st we will be building more patterns, counting to practice naming them and the
students will get the opportunity to record some patterns. This lesson is engaging for this group of
energetic Kindergarteners as it gives them the chance to identify some patterns on my screen and to
build patterns on their own. This lesson also incorporates higher level thinking as students will have to
notice the mistake in the pattern and try to fix it.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand – what are the broad Know – what are the facts, rules, Do – what are the specific thinking
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do
begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These “knows” through this lesson? (These will also
typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
Students will understand that Students will know that a pattern Students will be able to identify a
patterns repeat themselves. that does have some type of mistake in a pattern show and/or
repeating core is not a pattern. made by the teacher and be able to
Students will understand what the fix that mistake to make it a
“core” of the pattern is. Students will know how to make a complete pattern.
pattern.
Students will be able to tell the
teacher how to make a pattern
using the bear counters.

Students will be able to make their

own patterns using the bear paper.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
I will be recording which students were able to find a mistake and fix by which asking them to give
me a “thumbs up or thumbs down.”
I will be making sticky notes and writing down how if each student pair was able to make their
pattern.
Have students show me their finished bear patterns. If students were successfully able to make
patterns, I will make a checklist to record who could create a pattern.
RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)
K.12 The student will sort and classify objects according to one attribute. K.13 The student will
identify, describe, extend, create, and transfer repeating patterns.
E. MATERIALS NEEDED
Bear Paper – Students will have these
Zoom-Teacher
Pattern Video on YouTube-Teacher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoHCIaFpwSw&feature=emb_title
Bear Counters-Teacher
 Crayons-Students

F. PROCEDURE
The teacher will tell students that today we are going to be correcting some patterns and building
our own patterns. The teacher will tell students to get the bear sheet and three different colored
crayons for today’s lesson.

Video (4 minutes)

The teacher will play a video called “Learning AB pattern”

The teacher will pause the video when a pattern is displayed
The teacher will ask the students “Is this pattern correct, show me with a thumbs up or thumbs
down if you think it is correct”
The teacher will call on a student to explain their answer
The student should be able to identify the mistake in the pattern and correct the pattern by
changing it.
The teacher will repeat this process when the video displays another pattern

Bear Pattern (11 minutes)

The teacher will spill out her bear counters on her desk
The teacher will share her screen to the visualizer
The teacher will make sure the visualizer is pointed down
The teacher will create a pattern with a mistake in it and then ask “is this a pattern, show me with a
thumbs up or thumbs down if it is a pattern”
The teacher will call on a student to share their answer
The student will explain why it is not a pattern
The teacher will tell the students that “the core of the pattern does not repeat itself”
The teacher will mix up the bears into a pile , then the teacher will ask for two students at a time to
unmute themselves and the teacher will ask “can you two help me build a pattern?”
The teacher will explain that the beginning part is going to be the core
The teacher will explain that the core will be made with either two or three different colored bears,
after students have made their core, they will work on repeating their pattern by instructing the
teacher to move the bear counters
The teacher will have the students take turns in pairs as the students tell the teacher where to put
the bears.

Bear Worksheet (8 minutes)

After each pair or group of three has had a turn guiding the teacher to build a pattern, the students
will have the chance to make their own bear patterns by using their bear worksheets and three
crayons
The teacher will tell the students to make two different patterns by coloring in the bears with their
crayons and to hold them up when they are done with the first one
The teacher will take notes and use a checklist to determine which students were able to make a
accurate bear pattern

The teacher will put students in the waiting room and tell them to take their break

G. DIFFERENTIATION
This lesson will be taught to both the lower groups (Red and Yellow) and the higher groups (Green and
Blue). For the Red and Yellow groups, I will have the students help me build a pattern individually. These
students will build bear patterns with two different colored bears (an AB or ABB pattern) while the Green
and Blue group will build a pattern with three different colored bears (an AB, ABB or ABC pattern). The
Yellow and Red group will probably take a longer time to build the pattern with the teacher, so this group
will be required to color one bear pattern on their worksheet rather, then two bear patterns. Both groups
will try and find a mistake in an AB pattern with the video in the beginning. The teacher may need extra
explanation for the Red and Yellow group to understand why the AB pattern is incorrect.

H. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

This lesson might be shorter than anticipated, if there is extra time I will allow for students to share
and explain their bear pattern drawings.

Some students might talk out of turn and unmute themselves when the teacher is working with two
students at a time to build a pattern, to prevent this from happening I will remind students before I
began to teach to keep their mics muted unless they are called on and I will remind them to patiently
wait their turn.

Some students might be upset and frustrated, I will remind a student struggling with this to take a deep
breath and possibly to take a screen break.
Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.

I spend more time making patterns with the bear counters then letting the students make patterns on their
recording sheet. I also explained less of the recording sheet to the students and had them make patterns on
their own without being completely guided by me. I spent more time using bear counters because if felt
this kept student engagement and that it allowed for them to see several non-examples of patterns that they
could look at and fix which shows me (the teacher) how truly well they understand the concept of patterns.
I allowed for students to have more creativity with the patterns because, they showed me through the video
that we watched and through the activity that I did with the bear counters that they had a good enough
understanding of patterns that they could build them on their own.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?

Based on the notes that I took and the checklist I used, I noticed that every student was able to show me or
tell me about repeating pattern with either AB or ABB or AAB. Through informal assessment of seeing who had their
thumb up or thumb down I noticed that two students struggled with identifying a mistakes a pattern. I feel as though
when I helped guide the students that were struggling with finding a mistake, that they were able to complete the
pattern on their own and fix the mistake. When, Students showed me their bear patterns at the end of the lesson, I
noticed that every student made an AB or ABB/AAB pattern and most made an ABC pattern.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

If it were to teach this lesson again I would make sure the bear counters I used were all the same size.
Even though, I we were focusing on color pattern, I think that it can be very confusing for students of
this age to find patterns if the counters are different size.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?

I would focus on ABC and ABCD patterns and I would continue to have students find mistakes in patterns
and fix them. The students have not had a lot of practice with ABC and ABCD patterns and I feel after
doing this lesson that they are read to be challenged with them.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?

I learned that Kindergartens really enjoy getting a turn to speak. I think that it is important to make sure
that everyone gets a least one chance to share if they have their hand raised and would like to share.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?

I learned that students really enjoying coloring and being creative and that to let them be creative , the
teacher can be a lot more hands off. When I gave the students the lose instruction to build an AB pattern
on their own, they did not need guided practiced they chose their colors and were able to all do it on their
own. I think that a lot of teaching Kindergarten is knowing when to stop guiding them and give them the
full independence on their own.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?

I learned it important for me to have different activities when teaching a lesson, this helps me remember
what I am trying to have the students learn when I am teaching a lesson. I learned it important to continue to
spread positivity to my students.